What do computers, cell phones, televisions, wind turbines and solar panels all have in common?
They were initially seen as expensive, but are now being successfully marketed. Costs of fuel cells will inevitably be reduced due to the very low cost of the raw materials: graphite, commodity metals, plastics, and composite. The only material components with irreducible costs are the current catalysts, principally platinum. There are major platinum recycling systems already in place around the world to recover and reuse noble metals. Research is underway to reduce the amount of platinum required, as well as to find alternative catalysts from base metals.
